Silence of a Heart
by shipscanbelovely
Summary: In which Lin Bei Fong attends her mother's funeral, and how the Chief of Police grows colder.


_She never really was the same after Aang's death_, Lin thought. Well, the whole world wasn't, but the Avatar's closest were struck the hardest. Even Lin, tough, strong, brave and fierce Lin shed tears at Aang's funeral, surrounded by her whole family, there to support each other. Her father, her aunts and uncle( Katara, Mai and Zuko), and her cousins, Kya, Bumi, Tenzin, Irah and Kuzon were bleary eyed and frozen the whole time. But Lin's mother Toph never fully recovered from the death of her first pupil, and one of her closest companions. Toph had gotten softer, mellow and even frailer over the course of five years since his passing. Toph had even quit teaching at her metalbending academy, leaving the job to one of her talented students. Lin, on the other hand, grew tougher, although being the Chief of Police probably heavily influenced that.

Time passed. Five years to be precise. The new Avatar was recently discovered in the Southern Water Tribe, a little girl named Korra. Toph became very insistent on meeting this "baby Twinkle Toes".

"No Mother," Lin argued. "You can't even see down there, and the new Avatar is way too young for you to start yelling at her while you teach her earthbending." This is where Lin's father, Sokka, intervened.

"Your mother's perfectly capable of going Lin. Besides, who else would be better fit to teach the new Avatar earthbending than Aang's teacher?" Sokka asked, as he looked over to Toph, remembering that one day before the Day of Black Sun. _Do you really think friendships can last more than one lifetime_? Toph had asked Aang, _I don't see why not_, Aang had answered, and with a pang Sokka realized that it was destiny for Toph to train Korra, making it so that the bonds of friendship did indeed last more than one lifetime.

Toph could feel Sokka's heartbeat, slow and steady, as if he were pondering something deep for once, only saddening Toph because she could tell Sokka was thinking about Aang. Toph sighed.

"Besides, Lin, Katara's all alone down there; I think she'd be delighted for a family visit." Toph added, her eyes cloudier than usual. Lin frowned, a look that reflected Toph's temperamental face from her younger days.

"Fine," Lin huffed. It was decided that the three of them would go down to the South Pole in the morning. Lin left to return to her apartment, where she began making plans to keep the city under control during her absence. Lin groaned as she went to sleep, not wanting to deal with the morning.

They didn't make it to the Southern Water Tribe. Toph never woke up that morning. Sokka awoke to find his beloved wife curled up against him, lifeless and cold. Sokka's heart went haywire, the loss of his best friend, who literally became a brother to him, and the loss of the woman who he had loved more than he thought possible, was too much for him to handle. Sokka refused to believe that both his friend and lover were dead.

The funeral took place a week later.

Katara was the first to arrive, her aging blue eyes puffy and her wrinkled face streaked with tears. She hugged Sokka tightly, the two siblings both grieving over the loved ones they had both cared for so much. Katara then went over to her middle-aged niece, who resembled her dear friend as much as Korra resembled Aang. Kya, Bumi, and Tenzin (accompanied with his wife Pema) arrived not long after. The Fire Lord and Lady came next along with their grown children, and several grandchildren, including a newborn. Though looking in the eyes of Lin's Aunt Mai and Uncle Zuko, she could see the pride that filled their eyes, new life in front of them, but the grief and devastation they felt was also clearly written on their faces. Lin greeted each of them gently and sincerely, but felt a pang in her heart, when she saw Irah (who definitely received Mai's beauty) holding her second child tenderly.

Lin sat down at the funeral, and contemplated on how she wanted a joy like that too; her heart ached when she began thinking of her own mother, and the memories they shared. Lin could distinctly remember some of her earliest memories with Toph: how Toph blindfolded her in order to make Lin a better earthbender (despite Sokka's early protests that their daughter would be a waterbender) and Toph taking her to the badgermoles. Toph had told Lin the story of how she had ran away when she was very young, and who came across the badgermoles who were blind like just like she was. Lin had always cherished the moments when their family of three would spend time with their friends, and Lin became very close with Kya, Bumi, Tenzin, Irah and Kuzon. The children would always gather around their seated parents, and would beg for stories of their adventures. Everyone would always laugh, especially when one of them (specifically Sokka) would exaggerate on some bizarre heroic action that never actually took place.

Lin held back a heave when tears started pouring out as speeches were being made about her mother. Looking around, it pained Lin to see that her mom and Aang were not sitting with their lovers and friends. Later that night, they were all gathered around like they used to. Sokka and Katara sat close to each other, to somewhat comfort the loneliness they both felt.

Katara was dwelling upon how surely Toph and Aang were together in the Spirit World. She thought about how Toph was probably teasing Aang about who knows what, Katara was thinking about how nice it was that they could have each other while waiting for their loved ones to reunite with them. Katara was very aware that it wasn't her time anytime soon, little Korra still needed her waterbending master.

Sokka was never as optimistic as Katara though; he was dwelling on how he lost his mother, and now his only child (though now a full-grown woman) was going through the same loss, except this must have been worse. Lin had known Toph for such a long time, longer than Sokka had ever known Kya, and Sokka was thinking on how Toph had been such a wonderful mother. His mother, Aang, and Toph, they were all _gone_. Sokka felt like his heart was empty, the only bit of happiness that lingered was the fact that Zuko, Mai, Katara and Lin were still alive and well.

More toasts of the greatest earthbender in the world were spoken. Katara mentioned on how close she and Toph were, then about how wonderful it was that they eventually became sisters, and she loved her like one. Lin rested against her father, and she had a mental image of Toph yelling at them for being crybabies. Lin smiled a tad at the thought, and her instincts told her that everything would be alright.

If only she knew how wrong her instincts could be. A few months had gone by, and her father also passed. Lin grew cold, refusing to date or get close to anyone, since the pain of losing someone became unbearable. Lin had too many loved ones die in a short time span. Lin didn't enjoy pondering the cruelties of the world. Her happiness was caused by keeping order in her city, a job that was encouraged by all, and gave her pride. She loved her city, and after all the losses she went through, she was determined that she didn't need love to grant her joy.

There was only one thing, well, one person Lin really hated: the Avatar. Not her dear Uncle Aang, but rather, the one whose birth caused him to die, and from that, brought the people she cared most about to depression. Lin vowed to detest this young Water Tribe girl, and when it was her time to enter the city, quickly force her out.

This mindset of Lin's changed entirely when Lin first set eyes on the fiery teenager.

**A/N: (Yes, Korra x Lin is definitely implied at the end, and I'm more than likely going to make a continuation of this story focusing on Lin and Korra's relationship.)**


End file.
